Together, the events mark the program's 25th anniversary and celebrate its ongoing commitment to the art community. The Core Program is headed by Joseph Havel, director of the Glassell School, and MFAH director Peter C. Marzio, who took the helm of the MFAH in 1982—the program's founding year.
Over the years, ten Core artists have been featured in the Whitney Biennial Exhibitions, two have received MacArthur fellowships, and several have been selected to show their work at prestigious international biennials, including Venice, Istanbul, and Lyon. Additionally, the Core Program's critical studies residents have gained similar recognition, including senior editing positions at prominent national art publications. While in Houston, Core artists not only define their artistic ambitions, but also bolster the local arts scene by teaching, engaging in community projects, and interacting with other artists. Many have made Houston their permanent home, further reinforcing and expanding the city's population of working artists.
The two exhibitions open Saturday, March 8: 2008 Core Artists in Residence Exhibition, this year's edition of the annual show of Core resident work, on view at the Glassell School of Art, and Learning by Doing: 25 Years of the Core Program at the MFAH, on view in the museum's Audrey Jones Beck Building. This two-part exhibition will highlight works by Core fellows that the MFAH has collected or that have been borrowed from the collections of sponsors of the Core Program. The first segment of this exhibition will be on view through June 2008; the second segment will open in July 2008.
2008 Core Artists in Residence Exhibition features work by the eight current Core artists: Mequitta Ahuja, William Cordova (also a 2008 Whitney Biennial participant), Kara Hearn, Andres Janacua, Lauren Kelley, Nicholas Kersulis, Sergio Torres-Torres, and Jeff Williams. Core critical studies residents Meredith Goldsmith and Jennifer King will contribute essays summarizing aspects of their independent research to the publication that accompanies the show. The exhibition will be on view in the school's Laura Lee Blanton Gallery through April 18, 2008. Mary Leclere, associate director of the Glassell School, is in charge of the exhibition.
Learning by Doing focuses on the experimental nature of the Core program, tracing its evolution through the work of its artists. The show presents a selection of paintings, drawings, photographs, and assemblages that have entered the collection since 1986, when the MFAH began collecting the work of Core fellows. The collection now numbers over 160 examples, and the exhibition will bring to light both familiar works and pieces that have never been exhibited in Houston before.
Among the approximately 30 featured artists will be: Mark Allen, David Aylsworth, Amy Blakemore, Dannay Yahav-Brown, Santiago Cucullu, Gilad Efrat, Sharon Engelstein, Francesca Fuchs, David Fulton, DeWitt Godfrey, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Michael Miller, Katrina Moorhead, Demetrius Oliver, and Shazia Sikander. Alison de Lima Greene, MFAH curator of contemporary art and special projects, is coordinating the exhibition, in consultation with Mary Leclere and Joseph Havel. Learning by Doing will be on view in the Millennium Gallery on the lower level of the Beck Building through September 1.
In May, the museum will publish a major book about the program, Core: Artists and Critics in Residence. Essays and interviews chronicle the origins of the program, the education of artists and critics, Core's connection to the MFAH collection, and the state of the program today. Contributing authors are: Allan Hacklin, former director of the Glassell School of Art and creator of the Core Program; Rachel Hecker, former associate director of the Glassell School of Art; Thomas Lawson, dean of CalArts; Lane Relyea, assistant professor of art, Northwestern University; and Claire Barliant, former Core critical studies resident and editor at Modern Painters magazine.
Publication of the book will coincide with the annual Glassell School Benefit on Saturday, May 2. The 25th anniversary is the theme of the event, which will include an auction of art by current and former Core artists. -- www.mfah.org
